ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT - CONDOLENCES - Kerin, Hon. John Charles, AM, AO, FTSE

I think my late father, Lance, a very good farmer at Brucedale between Wagga Wagga and Junee, only ever came to Parliament House once. Dad wasn't one for protesting, but on 1 July 1985 an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 farmers and their friends rallied at Parliament House to protest about the effect of taxes and charges on the farming community and the lack of government concern about their welfare. The minister at the time was one John Kerin. In December of that same year, 25 tonnes of Frank Daniel's best wheat was dumped at the door of Parliament House.

Now, John Kerin was not one for changing his mind. 'Given his natural instincts', and I'm reading from an obituary by Gordon Gregory—this was published on Pearls and Irritations, John Menadue's public policy journal. This was an obituary written just the other day. As I say, in this obituary, it says:

Given … his fascination with the industries in his protection, and a real belief in the rectitude of the task given him, Kerin was building bridges, not moats. He opened the path between agricultural people (not just their leaders) and the evil of 'Canberra'.

He did believe in ensuring that, indeed, we were going to export to the world, that we were going to look at tariffs and try to reduce tariffs and reduce protectionism.

Now, I'm not saying my dear old dad was wrong, but I suppose when I think of my late father, Lance, and I think back to John Kerin, they were both similar sorts. They were both strong in mind and strong in attitude. At the time you could imagine that farmers would have been pretty angry. They were pretty angry about the Hawke government, but I do also remember at the time that the rains came and ended the drought, so that gave the farmers something else to think about.

Mr Jones interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: No doubt he did take credit for that, Member for Whitlam. Some might ask why I'm standing to pay tribute to someone whose actions led to my father coming here and protesting, when dad was not a protester. It's because it's simply the right thing to do. It's simply the right thing to do as a National Party member to stand and pay tribute to somebody who held what can be seen as a difficult portfolio in the Labor Party. Often the bar is set a lot lower for Labor agriculture ministers than it is for National Party agriculture ministers—that's the simple truth.

John was the minister for agriculture from 1983 to 1991, and they were tumultuous years. He reminds me a little of Eddie Graham, who was the New South Wales minister for agriculture from 1944 to 1957. He actually died in office. Eddie Graham was the member for Wagga Wagga, and they referred to him as 'the Minister for Wagga Wagga', such was his passion for my home town, that great inland New South Wales city, the largest in the state. He was agriculture minister for all of that time, apart from seven days when James McGirr, the great-uncle of the current member Dr Joe McGirr, was the agriculture minister. McGirr also had just been elected the 28th Labor Premier of New South Wales. Eddie Graham served as a great ag minister.

I listened to the tribute the other day from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and in talking about John Kerin the word 'great' came out. Anyone who has been the minister for agriculture federally can be looked upon as somebody who did the best for rural communities, and, to that end, I thank John Kerin. I pay tribute to his legacy. When you look at his CV, you see that he was born in Bowral. There's a tick—a good agricultural community. He went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School and Bowral High School. He worked as a poultry farmer—he was a chook farmer who became a federal minister; good on him!—before he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of New England in 1967. There was a lot of country cred in this man, the late John Kerin, who we pay tribute to today. He completed a Bachelor of Economics at the ANU in 1977 and he spent time working at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, ABARE. You can see, Mr Deputy Speaker, that he would have been a model agriculture minister for the ALP.

John Kerin served in the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1975, under Gough Whitlam, as the member for Macarthur—a seat now held, of course, by Dr Mike Freelander—and from 1978 to 1993 as the member for Werriwa, after Gough Whitlam retired, causing a by-election. Anne Stanley, of course, is the current member for Werriwa. He held several senior ministerial roles in both the Hawke and Keating governments. He served for eight years as Minister for Primary Industry and Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, the longest period in that role in Australian history for a member of the ALP.

During his time as primary industries and energy minister he played a key role in various Hawke reforms. We all know of the Hawke reforms. We look on many of them today as being a good thing and think it was about time they were introduced. Our country is greater for them. Obviously, protests came about, particularly at the gradual abolition of most tariffs on agricultural imports, and of course our farmers were worried that we were going to get a flood of agricultural produce from other countries when we didn't need it. At the time, it was controversial. But we were opening up to the world, not just under the Hawke government but under previous governments, and under successive governments we have further opened up to the world. This is a trading nation. John Kerin played a part in making Australia a trading nation.

Bob Hawke appointed Mr Kerin as Minister for Transport and Communications, but he held the portfolio for only a couple of weeks because Paul Keating successfully challenged Bob Hawke and Mr Kerin was then moved to the trade and overseas development portfolio.

There was a time, too, when he was the Treasurer, and, unfairly, he was castigated by the media for his actions in his time as Treasurer. It brings home, I suppose, certain memories. We've all had those interviews where, if we could take back some of the things we said or furnish some of the answers we didn't provide, we would do it in a heartbeat. But you get criticised, and Mr Kerin was criticised by people who would never have put their hand up for public office. They'd never have put their name on a ballot paper. I've always said it takes guts to put your name on a ballot paper and to put your hand up for public office. Despite that performance as Treasurer, he did his best. We thank him for the various roles that he played and for the role that he played in helping shape public policy and the federal government of the day.

In October 2010, Mr Kerin was appointed chair of the Crawford Fund, a position he held until early 2017. The Crawford Fund aims to increase Australia's engagement with international agricultural research, development and education. It is a good organisation. John Kerin was a good man. We pay tribute to him today, we mourn his loss and we pay respects to his family. I know he released an extensive memoir of his experiences as primary industries and energy minister between 1983 and 1991. He passed away on 29 March at the age of 85. It was a full life—we wish it could have been longer—but he packed so much into his years, and he gave so much for others and so much for our regional communities. For that, as a National Party member, I say thank you. For the experience and for the energy that he brought to all the portfolios he held, vale, John Kerin.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—